unwanted inheritance
by Paper-Knights
Summary: War is ugly, and the Fire Nation is not kind; they destroy villages, rape their women, burn down their crops and pollute their water. Even though the war ends, the mark it leaves will remain for tens of dozens of years to come. Sokka is just another descendant of that accursed legacy. There's a reason why he mistrusts bending and hates firebenders with such vehemence.


**| Prologue | a tale of childhood**

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Katara showed the first sign of her waterbending when she was only five.

Crying and grabbing at a blanket, red rimmed eyes showing her childish anger, Sokka could not even remember what the tantrum had been about now. He had been there, of course, watching wide-eyed as the child's impromptu tantrum had suddenly caused a bucket of water in the corner to spill over, spitting a globule of water all over the inside of the tent at the peak of her angry wails.

It was, to be sure, the most unexpected event of the year, including the time one of the teams harpooned a blue whale and brought back the catch in pieces to the village.

His father had been present there too, the boy had watched him recoil in surprise as water went everywhere- and as Sokka had peered up at the man, even though Katara continued with her flailing about and loud yells, he saw the shock of the situation slowly morph on Hakoda's face into pride.

Pride.

The sour taste in his mouth and the sudden hate that rose against his sister and their father had been unfamiliar and brief, forgotten as quickly as it appeared- but he still remembered the moment, sometimes, remembered the bitter anger rising up whenever Katara did her _thing_ with the water.

So it was something he professed to the entire village, be it in a joker's tone- that the whole water magic thing was just unnatural and weird. A light hearted insult that belied his true thoughts of resentment and guilt. And in response, sometimes Katara would just tease her brother, tell him it was because he didn't have her gift that he was so jealous.

Either way, Katara didn't mean it, just as he knew her brother didn't truly mean his rude remarks. It was another quirk of their lives. But in truth, her words hit home far more than she would have ever realized.

_He had just been trying to copy the warriors, really- a small stick clutched in his fist as he waved it around in some semblance of a kata._

_But then the stick had someone gotten into the fire. And then he had panicked and thrown water over it. And then, well, then the fire in the tent had gone out- so he had been frantically trying to rekindle it again. Which had led to a revelation about how he could make fire without kindling and with just his bare hands._

_Which was how he was currently where he was, at the very outskirts of the village, running up to his father who was standing there alone, staring into the ocean, looking excited- eager, in fact, to show his father his newfound gift._

_But even as he had pulled on the man's sleeve, eyes shining as he showed how he could make fire appear and reappear, the reception he would recieve was not one he could have ever expected._

_He waited for a long moment, a wide smile on his lips, looking proud of himself and wondering if his father would be proud of him too._

_His father just simply looked on in shock, before... his expression changed- changed into something foreign and scary- and Sokka could only cry out in surprise as he was suddenly slapped across the face, unable to react as he stumbled backwards, almost slipping on the ice._

_"Never do that again!" The roar almost went unheard by the child, stunned as he was by his father's action- Hakoda had never hit him before, ever. He couldn't even think, mind blank, as he stared at his dad. What had just happened?_

_The boy looked on, mute as the man bent down, shaking him roughly by the shoulders- "Never do that again, do you hear me!?" The panic in his father's tone jolted him from his daze, and Sokka opened his mouth, paralysed._

_"I-I-" the stammer could not even finish itself, and Sokka swallowed, looking up helplessly- perhaps it was something in that expression that made Hakoda flinch back, the anger suddenly disappearing from his dark eyes, though to what was only Sokka's guess._

_The man didn't speak for a long moment, gazing at his son. Eventually, a soft, almost broken smile appeared on his lips, and he murmured a little more softly, a little hollowly, "Sokka, you mustn't do that from now on, ever again."_

_An immediate, scared nod, was his response._

_Looking regretful, Hakoda pulled his son into a rough hug, and at the touch Sokka burst into tears, clutching at the cloth of his father's clothing. He could only repeat a frenzied mantra of- __**I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry**__, as he sobbed, burying his head into the roughly woven tunic, wondering at what he had done wrong but accepting it without question._

_Sokka showed the first sign of his firebending when he was only four._

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unproofed, unedited, un-everythinged. Should I continue, or should I not? x) You tell me :3. This can just be a prologue-ish oneshot, or it could be the start of something more. Heh, also, need a better name for this thing, anyone have any ideas? :3


End file.
